COMMENTARY
Share
Kremlin Calls Shadow Fleet Seizures ‘Piracy’ and Threatens Naval Response
The war in Ukraine has long since escaped the trenches of Donbas and the missile-scarred cities of the Black Sea coast. Sanctions, sabotage, cyber operations and energy coercion have transformed it into something broader: a systemic contest between Russia and…
The 48-Hour Problem: NATO’s Response Under Pressure in a Baltic Drill
In the days leading up to the Munich Security Conference on 13–15 February 2026, European media carried a run of scenario-based reporting on how a future security shock might unfold on NATO’s eastern flank. Several of the most widely circulated…
Europeans sense danger — yet still hesitate to act
Europeans have begun to feel something unfamiliar: vulnerability. For three generations the continent lived inside a strategic paradox. It possessed advanced economies, stable democracies and generous welfare systems, yet relied on a power across an ocean for its ultimate security.…
Munich: Rubio Reminds the West That Confidence, Not Apology, Keeps the Peace
The Munich Security Conference has long been a gathering devoted to reassurance. Diplomats reassure allies, allies reassure one another, and collectively the West reassures itself that stability can be preserved largely by good intentions and the careful management of tensions.…
Rubio tells Europe a new geopolitical era is under way ahead of Munich address
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has warned European allies that they are entering a “new era in geopolitics” as he arrived in Europe ahead of a headline address at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, 14 February 2026. Speaking…
How Sudan’s War Is Drawing in Its Neighbours
The war in Sudan has always threatened to become something larger than a mere domestic tragedy. Now, according to a striking investigation, it may already have done so. Fresh reporting suggests that neighbouring Ethiopia has been hosting a clandestine military…
Mark Rutte’s Long View Is Giving NATO Strategic Confidence
Mark Rutte’s leadership shows NATO is as much political as it is military. There are two ways to understand NATO’s present moment. One is to see only the anxiety: a grinding war in Ukraine, a volatile Middle East, an increasingly…
The New Polar Front: Why Greenland Matters Again to Western Defence
In the long Arctic dusk, where the horizon blurs into a pale sheet of ice and the air itself seems to crystallise, modern air power is subjected to a test no laboratory can replicate. This winter the North American Aerospace…
India-EU Security and Defence Partnership Heralds A New Era Of Industrial Diplomacy
Europe’s defence relationship with India has long been discussed in the abstract, framed by polite communiqués and aspirational memoranda. Now, it is beginning to take on substance. The emerging India–EU defence partnership, with its emphasis on co-production rather than mere…
German war game shows Russia could seize Nato ground — and hold it unchallenged
A war game run in Germany has modelled a limited Russian incursion into Nato territory and found that Moscow could hold ground for several days without triggering an immediate military response from the alliance. The exercise was organised by Die…